Yun Jhin left the capital behind as he traveled for around 50,000 kilometers before he stopped to catch his breath, he wasn't sure if the Empire's backer would notice what happened up till now as he sealed the news but with him gone pandemonium would rise, the Heavenly Turtle sect backer wouldn't be able to do anything anyway as it was a spy sect and revealing themselves in the territory of the dragons would be a really unwise move.
Yun Jhin looked around as he spotted a mountain nearby, he flew directly to the base of the mountain where he dug a cave, he settled himself nicely there as he put up some formations to keep himself safe while he would be evolving again.
Yun Jhin opened his spatial bag and took out all of the blood beads that he created using the formation and nodded his head as he looked at their quality, the highest quality one was from the man who tried to go against him in his last struggles, but failed miserably in the end.
Yun Jhin opened his mouth as he inhaled blood bead after blood bead, impurities were extracted from his bloodline, from time to time he would vomit black blood in form of those impurities, he was getting nearer the perfect dragon caterpillar form with every bead consumed.
A cocoon started to engulf him as he finished the last blood bead and a notification appeared in front of him:
[Host has consumed enough draconic blood to evolve into the peak form of the dragon caterpillar tree, a pure dragon caterpillar of the highest bloodline rank, however as you are a mixed-blood no matter how high your bloodline is you will still feel suffocated in front of a true dragon.]
Yun Jhin knew about bloodline suppressions but with the purity of his evolving bloodline, only the highest royalty of dragons could suppress him, after all, not all dragons bloodline continued to be the same after they split up, some regressed and some strengthened.
Yun Jhin closed his eyes as he felt his body evolve again, his caterpillar height weight and length remained the same, but his skin transformed into scales as his body changed form, his body was still that of a caterpillar but he gained the maw of a dragon, his horns became sharper and turned crystalline.
He continuously slept as his form changed nothing woke him up as his body evolved and his bloodline strengthened, his cultivation broke through to the 5th stage of the ki cultivating realm in one go due to reaching the peak of the caterpillar evolutionary tree, but due to that happening his further breakthroughs would become harder.
The more talented the body the more energy it would require to breakthrough. It was the law of equivalent exchange, while the universe blessed him with a talented body and gave him higher battle power, it also made him have a harder time to break through into new realms, however that didn't mean his future breakthroughs would be limited, he would just need to gain more energy than normal experts.
While Yun Jhin was cultivating and breaking through, in the middle regions, a border sect received some news.
The grand elder of the sect looked at the news and shook his head:
"The Long Empire is in pandemonium? *puh* Why would the disciples send us this lowly information, do they think that we from the Middle continent care about this lowly bunch?"
The elder was ready to destroy the news when a hand stopped him, a rather youthful woman appeared near him as he took the news from his hand and read it more carefully then she shook her head and said:
"I thought it would be something interesting but it's just the normal emperor slaughtering their people to breakthrough, this damn savages from the lower continents with trash talent always use this technique to further their breakthroughs, how sad."
The grand elder bowed to the youthful woman and said:
"Should I go and investigate since madam is interested in this news?"
The woman shook her head but the grand elder knew that this meant she wanted to investigate, but not as an individual from their sect, the woman couldn't technically give orders to sect elders yet but the grand elder knew what kind of position she had in the sect master and patriarch's hearts.
He nodded as he left the hall he was currently in and left the sect grounds disappearing over the horizon.
The woman shook her head as she burned the bamboo slip that contained the news and muttered:
"A dragon caterpillar became the emperor of the Long Empire?"
Yun Jhin continued his evolution, he knew that the news of the empire being in pandemonium should have got to the border of the middle regions by now but he could care less, he took a different path to the one on the capital and hid the cave he dug very well, combined with his formations there was a very low chance of being found.
But just to be sure he also laid some strange poisonous plants that he got from the treasury of the heavenly turtle at the entrance, even 7th stage ki cultivating people who touched them would wither and die, experts would naturally recognize these plants and avoid the place.
Yun Jhin's body finished it's transformations as his wings could be now retracted into his body, he now looked half-draconic half-caterpillar, his big eyes turned a deep pure blue that would make him look cute but also a little bit ferocious in the face of female disciples.
While Yun Jhin was testing his new body and checking his internal cultivation state, the grand elder from the border sect was currently flying above the mountain!
The man looked down as an excited expression came over his face and he said:
"Poisonous Mondergartens and Dandriols."
It seemed the grand elder either trained in a poisonous technique or liked to refine gu's using poisonous plants, the man slowly descended to the cave's entrance as he got his hands on the plants using a special ki technique that made it look like he was wearing special white gloves, his cultivation base was still unknown as he didn't release his aura fully.
Yun Jhin felt the disturbance from above but kept himself calm, he just waited for the man to leave, unless he found the formations he wouldn't think there was anything else in the cave.
However, the man seemed to like poisonous plants as he went further and further into the cave until he hit a formation!
The formation made the man furrow his brows as he pushed it with his hand, the floating runes rebound pushing him back but he smiled as he looked at the runes and he shouted inside the cave:
"I wonder which friend is cultivating in this cave? Might I join you to talk about our experiences?"
The voice revealed the man's cultivation base, it was around the 3rd stage of the King Realm, Yun Jhin frowned as he felt the man's power, even though he broke through and was at the 5th stage of the ki cultivating realm that didn't mean he could clash head-on with a King Realm expert.
Only with tricks and formations, he killed those two king realm experts, they were exhausted and injured combined with the fact that the devil absorbed their last amount of ki and crushed their bones a little bit was the only reason they couldn't retaliate and kill Yun Jhin on the spot, that was also the reason they couldn't reject the forceful bloodline alteration from the dragon stone.
Yun Jhin knew that the man would become suspicious if he didn't respond so he talked back:
"Might I know where this friend is from and what are his intentions in visiting my dwelling?"
The grand elder laughed as he said:
"Well I have seen some poisonous plants at the entrance of the cave and I might wonder if this brother has more? After all, there should be more the deeper you go into the cave, this brother should know about the specifics of the plants right?"
Yun Jhin cursed inside as he heard the man's words, it seemed he knew his way around poisonous plants, he planted those specific ones in the mountain cave because with the right conditions they could grow inside such a cave.
Yun Jhin knew that if he gave away the other plants the man would realize that he was weak and there was a high chance he would be attacked, if he let him in he would see his body and cultivation base and he would attack as well.
The only way for him to not get captured would be to bluff:
"You know I might have some more plants of this type, but I have had quite the hard time picking them up."
The grand elder laughed again as he responded:
"This brother doesn't have to think much, I would like to trade with you, might you be able to tell me what do you require?"
Yun Jhin narrowed his eyes as he said:
"Any kind of draconic herbs would do fine, after all, I left my home in search of these."
The grand elder frowned inside as he now had to think about Yun Jhin's background, what if he was from somewhere important?
They weren't nearly at the border of the middle regions but they were pretty close, what if he was from a stronger sect than his own? The difference of one level between King Realm experts made it that a 2nd stage would most likely easily get killed by a 3rd stage if they didn't have a strong treasure or body.
The grand elder said with a more respectful tone:
"Might I ask where this brother is from?"
Yun Jhin frowned as he scanned his memories for a sect name that he could use, but a long time passed and he wasn't sure if the sects existed anymore, Yun Jhin finally knew what to say as he opened his maw and said:
"If you want to know I guess I can entertain you, I'm from a subsidiary clan of the true dragons."
Yun Jhin unleashed his new bloodline aura sending it to the man so he could analyze it, the man frowned as he felt the aura, it truly was from a subsidiary clan of the true dragon race!
Subsidiary clans tended to live in the upper continents as servants or disciples of the true dragons. That was on the surface but in truth, most of them were bastards sons or daughters of the true dragons.
Most dragons wouldn't care with who they mated, after all, true descendants were harder to conceive than mixed ones, there was a 7/10 chance for a mixed-blood to be born then there was a 2/10 chance for a pureblood to be born.
Most of the population of the upper continents consisted of mixed-blood dragons, they mated with all type of creatures that could cultivate consisting from humans to insects, elves and other beings, however, dragons couldn't mix with all races so some mixes tended to be born dead or die along with their mothers. In female dragon situations, the male wouldn't last enough to fill her with enough sperm so that she could conceive a child and they would die of exhaustion.
The grand elder knew that what he felt was a mixed aura of a high-class dragon, from what he knew this should have been the aura of a dragon caterpillar of the imperial rank or above!
The grand elder coughed as he waved his sleeve and said:
"Actually if you think about it more, I don't think I want this brother's plants at all, I have a job to do anyways gotta go!"
The grand elder flew away from the mountain cave at top speed as he didn't look back, he didn't want to trigger the behemoth that stood beside Yun Jhin, or so he thought.
Yun Jhin didn't have any backer if you didn't count the Throne of blood sect that might or might not exist anymore.
Yun Jhin sighed as he felt the man's aura disappear from his senses, he quickly took care of all the formations around and left in the opposite direction the man went in.
Even though he was bold he wasn't dumb, he didn't have the right preparations to take on a King Realm expert that was also at a higher stage than the ones he dealt with.
For now, he would retreat and try to find a real backer, after all, with his talent and techniques anyone would like to recruit him, but he wouldn't settle for any weak sect, Yun Jhin only wanted the best regardless of their ethics or beliefs.
Yun Jhin passed the border of the middle regions after a few days of flying, he finally reached another step up in his new cultivation life.
For now, what he planned was to reach the upper continents and join the true imperial family, there as long as he conducted himself well he could break through to the Emperor realm and leave the planet, but first, he would make sure he had his fill of true dragons for the system...